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Sceloporus malachiticus COPE, 1864

IUCN Red List - Sceloporus malachiticus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaPhrynosomatidae, Sceloporinae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Green Spiny Lizard
G: Stachelleguan 
SynonymSceloporus malachiticus COPE 1864
Sceloporus irazuensis GÜNTHER 1890 (part. fide SMITH 1939)
Sceloporus formosus malachiticus — SMITH 1939: 46
Sceloporus formosus malachiticus — SLEVIN 1942: 466
Sceloporus malachiticus malachiticus — MERTENS 1952: 48
Sceloporus malachiticus — SCHMIDT et al. 1999
Sceloporus malachiticus — KÖHLER 2000: 85
Sceloporus malachiticus — WIENS et a. 2010
Sceloporus malachiticus — CURLIS et al. 2020 
DistributionGuatemala (El Peten), El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama; Antigua; elevation: 830-1780 m

Type locality: “Arriba” (= uplands), Costa Rica.  
Reproductionviviparous 
TypesSyntypes: USNM 101062(5), formerly 12186, earlier 6492, collected by C. H. Riotte.
Syntypes: BMNH 1946.8.10.10-14 (formerly 1885.10.20.2-5), Irazú, Costa Rica, collected by F. D. Godman and O. Salvin. Also 1946.8.10.3-4 (formerly 1889.11.13.114-115), collected in "S. Mexico" by F. D. Godman [irazuensis] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis. A Sceloporus of moderate size, maximum snout-vent measurement 91mm.; a black shoulder spot present, lacking a narrow dorsal extension; dorsal scales 30 to 39, average 35; scales around body 30 to 45, average 37.9; ventral scales 36 to 46, average 42.2; femoral pores 11 to 17, average 14.3; frontal usually separated from interparietal; supraoculars in two irregular series; one or more supraoculars very frequently in contact with median head scales; one canthal or, if two, the first usually forced above canthal ridge; males usually with a light line down the center of each dorsal scale row (Smith 1939: 46).

Color. General ground color in males malachite blue, olive green or olive brown; each dorsal scale row with a broad median lighter streak; these lighter lines separated from each other by narrow dark lines occupying the edges of two adjacent scale rows; limbs apparently with faint, darker bands; toes and fingers barred rather distinctly; tail with faint alternating dark and light bars. Throat bluish, becoming darker posteriorly; gular fold region black, this color extending onto shoulder, but not onto back; sides of belly blue, with a dark blue or black median border, the two separated by four or five scale rows, this border not extending onto chest or into groin; chest, a band down middle of belly, and ventral surfaces of limbs and tail, immaculate, suffused with light blue (in some specimens, chest rather heavily suffused with black). Females tend to be darker-colored above; both young and old females usually show four or six rows of large, rather sharply outlined, brown-black spots on the back, of which the two median continue onto the tail (Wettstein, 1934); the nuchal collar is fairly distinct, and complete in the young; throat and sides of belly bluish (apparently; in preservative these areas appear dark); remainder of belly dusky white. The rows of dorsal spots are sometimes variously modified; in some, one or more rows have the individual spots fused to form indistinct irregular stripes; the sides of the abdomen frequently have irregular indistinct darker and lighter areas. Wettstein (1934), who had access to Zimara's field notes, states that this subspecies never has the throat colored orange-red, but alwaysbluish. In the preserved material personally examined, this statement appears to be true (Smith 1939: 48). 
CommentDistribution: Not listed for Belize and Mexico by KÖHLER (2000). Not in Honduras fide McCranie 2015 (checklist Honduras). Not in Yucatan state (Mexico) according to GONZÁLEZ-SÁNCHEZ et al. 2017.

Group: S. formosus group (sensu lato, fide PÉREZ-RAMOS & SALDAÑA DE LA RIVA 2008) 
EtymologyThe Latin malus or melinos, "apple," or apple-green," and the Greek chiton, "tunic," and -icus, "pertaining to," are the roots of this word, and undoubtedly refer to the greenish "tunic" of adult males. 
References
  • Acosta-Chaves, Víctor J.; Gerardo Chaves, Juan G. Abarca, Adrián García-Rodríguez, Federico Bolaños 2015. A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Río Macho Biological Station, Provincia de Cartago, Costa Rica. Check List 11 (6): 1784 - get paper here
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  • Curlis JD, Fisher EC, Muhic WK, Moy J, Garro-Cruz M, Montero-Ramírez JJ 2020. A survey of the reptiles and amphibians at the University of Georgia Costa Rica field station in San Luis de Monteverde, Costa Rica. Check List 16(6): 1433-1456 - get paper here
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